{"id":2455420,"date":"2020-03-05T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=322061"},"modified":"2020-03-05T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T00:00:00","slug":"a-drunken-inspiration-found-at-aspens-meat-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/a-drunken-inspiration-found-at-aspens-meat-cheese\/","title":{"rendered":"A \u2018Drunken Inspiration\u2019 found at Aspen\u2019s Meat &amp; Cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"5.9832402234637\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-322061-130\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/Libations-atw-030520-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/Libations-atw-030520-1-768x1024.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Carolyn Sackariason\/The Aspen Times | The jalapeno margarita at Meat &amp; Cheese.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-2\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong>The jalapeno margarita at Meat &amp; Cheese.<\/strong><br \/>Carolyn Sackariason\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/Libations-atw-030520-1-768x1024.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"The jalapeno margarita at Meat &amp; Cheese.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/Libations-atw-030520-1-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/Libations-atw-030520-1-1-768x1024.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Carolyn Sackariason\/The Aspen Times | The \" little blue vespa at meat cheese. class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-2\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"7\">\n<p><strong>The &#8220;Little Blue Vespa&#8221; at Meat &amp; Cheese.<\/strong><br \/>Carolyn Sackariason\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/Libations-atw-030520-1-1-768x1024.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"The \" little blue vespa at meat cheese.><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/magazines\/aspen-times-weekly\/a-drunken-inspiration-found-at-aspens-meat-cheese\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/magazines\/aspen-times-weekly\/a-drunken-inspiration-found-at-aspens-meat-cheese\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">On a blustery, wintry February afternoon there isn\u2019t a better place to belly up than the warmth of the back bar at Meat &amp; Cheese.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">There is something about the atmosphere in that place that compels me to day drink.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">If you have read my prose on drinking before, you\u2019ll recall that I like to peruse the cocktail menu and compare notes as I go down the line of offerings.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\"> \u201cWe have a small, incredible cocktail program,\u201d said <a href=\"http:\/\/aspentimes.secondstreetapp.com\/l\/Best-of-Aspen-2016-Voting\/Ballot\/MountainCharacters\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">bartender Dan Kiely<\/a>. \u201cWe always try to have something interesting and unique.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">With that, I will start with my favorite, which is timely since we are just coming off national margarita day. But really, margarita day is every day. Who are we kidding?<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">It turns out that every day is margarita day at Meat &amp; Cheese, too. The jalapeno margarita is a year-round cocktail on the menu.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">It has just the right spice and tinge to it, with a jalapeno floater and a chili salt rim.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">But the star of this drink is the pineapple, which is freshly squeezed in house. The tequila is infused with the pineapple and lime juice, also squeezed in house.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Served in a martini glass with a bit of triple sec and a little sugar, and it\u2019s the nectar.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Next on the menu worthy of day drinking is the \u201cLittle Blue Vespa,\u201d which will send you home sideways if you are not careful.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">It\u2019s a play and build off of James Bond\u2019s famous Vesper Martini, combining gin and vodka.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">But there is a much more creative twist to Kiely\u2019s creation of pickled blueberry-infused vodka, gin, blueberry juice, Leopold cranberry liquor and blueberry powder.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">All that fruit is deceiving, however.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cWe try to warn people that it\u2019s not a sweet drink like a patio pounder,\u201d Kiely said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a martini.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">One of the bigger hits this winter, according to Meat &amp; Cheese owner Wendy Mitchell, has been the \u201cDrunken Inspiration,\u201d which she described as the \u201cyummiest toddy ever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">It\u2019s made with Diplomatico rum, ginger birch syrup, wild mountain sage bitters, and garnished with a thin lemon wheel and served hot.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">It\u2019s the brainchild of bartender Rick Wrench, who happened upon some birch syrup in Alaska, brought it back to Aspen and blended it with fresh-pressed ginger juice in the restaurant, giving it a medicinal quality and flavor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cIt\u2019s a great apr\u00e8s drink,\u201d Wrench said, adding that Kiely named it the Drunken Inspiration because of the buzz he had when they concocted it together. \u201cDan looked at me and said, \u2018So this is how you get inspired?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">I\u2019m just glad to know I\u2019m not alone in falling victim to the pull of day drinking at Meat &amp; Cheese.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\"><span><em><a href=\"mailto:csackariason@aspentimes.com\">csackariason@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/magazines\/aspen-times-weekly\/a-drunken-inspiration-found-at-aspens-meat-cheese\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The jalapeno margarita at Meat &amp; Cheese.Carolyn Sackariason\/The Aspen Times The &#8220;Little Blue Vespa&#8221; at Meat &amp; Cheese.Carolyn Sackariason\/The Aspen Times Show CaptionsHide Captions On a blustery, wintry February afternoon there isn\u2019t a better place to belly up than the warmth of the back bar at Meat &amp; Cheese. There is something about the atmosphere [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2455420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 12:00:39","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2455420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2455420\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2455420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2455420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2455420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}